With every passing year, a lot of us wish to stay put in the homes we love, full of memories and familiar comforts. And what if it is not enough for our homes to just stay the same with the passage of time? What if our interiors, our rooms, our living spaces, could change in sufficient ways to add, really add, to our quality of life? That is “The Nature of Home” in a whole new light.
Welcoming Nature into Our Living Spaces
My grandmother chose not just to live in her house but to live with it. Her house, she said, would grow old with her. She would “not get evicted from it by my children or a nursing home that wanted to plump up its profits using my private-pay health insurance.” And because her house was going to grow old with her, she started refurbishing it a few years ago to serve her current and future needs. She joked, but again, beneath the humor, there was an idea that she seemingly wanted us to remember.
The biophilic design creates a link between indoor areas and nature. It’s more than a style; it taps into the human need and love of nature, which goes back a long way. We historically have always sought connections with nature, and evolutionary scientists say this is part of our brain chemistry. The link between indoor spaces and nature makes us feel good, and science points to our need for nature as a necessary part of our well-being. This is a key reason why biophilic design is much more than just the next trend.
For example, consider my neighbor who remodeled his house once he stopped working. In his living room, he installed a “green wall” full of plants that grow without soil. He put in huge windows that look out on a yard kept up as if he were aiming to impress a TV horticulture host. When we chat, he tells me these changes have altered his experience with the space. Because of the renovations, and the daily tending of his inside garden and plants in the yard, he tells me, “I feel really good here.”
